• You can know the Bible is true because it is the Word of God.

• How can you know it is the Word of God?

• Because it has God's signature upon it.

• What is God's signature?

• God's signature is that He can predict events before they happen.

Numerous times in the Bible God says "See, I am telling you before hand so that when these things do happen you will know that it was God who spoke to you." In the Old Testament God spoke to His people through prophets. But of course there were also false prophets so the people needed to know who was speaking a message from God and who wasn't. So God had a "signature" that He frequently put on messages from himself. He would tell the people what was going to happen before it occurred so they would know who the true prophet was when it came true.

The Bible contains written records of these predictions and they have proven to be historically accurate in retrospect. We could, if we wished, go through them one by one. Most of them were predictions about the Jew's own future and nation. Most of these outcomes would be unfamiliar to us today in our western civilization. But there is a major exception, and that exception is the prophet Daniel. Daniel predicted events which were global in nature at the time, and most of his predictions have already come true. So we could examine some of these and validate the veracity of Daniel and the Scriptures.

Daniel lived in the Jewish nation of Judea. His country was conquered by the Babylonians, and Daniel and many other young men were taken away as captives to serve the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. This all occurred between 598 and 588 B.C. Daniel and the others were taken to Babylon and trained to serve in the King's court. They were taught language, protocol, whatever was needed. Now Daniel and the others were from Judea so they would have been able to speak their native tongue, which was the ancient language of Hebrew. The language of Babylon was Aramaic. Actually, scholars call it Imperial Aramaic because it is the language that was used in the royal court at the time that Babylon was the dominant power in the Middle East. This is to distinguish it from the Aramaic which evolved later on and was still spoken in the Middle East at the time of the Roman Empire. And, in fact, portions of the Book of Daniel are written in Imperial Aramaic. This happens to be one of the pieces of evidence that allows us to date the writings of Daniel back to the time of Babylonian dominance.

The first prophecy we wish to look at is found in Chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel. This prophecy concerns the interpretation of a dream, and the dream was not Daniel’s, it was Nebuchadnezzar’s. What’s interesting about this account is that Nebuchadnezzar wouldn’t tell the content of the dream to anyone. Apparently he didn’t even trust his own astrologers and fortunetellers. He thought that if he told the content of the dream to them, they could just make up some meaning to please him, and he would never know the truth. So Nebuchadnezzar came up with a sure-fire plan to weed out the hacks. He decreed that he would only listen to someone who could tell him first the content of the dream, and second, the meaning of the dream. Then a word of truth comes from Nebuchadnezzar’s astrologers. They tell him (v.10) that no man alive can tell the king what he has dreamed! And they are right. Just stop and think about it. You, or anyone else, cannot tell someone what he or she dreamed. It’s impossible. You would have to be able to read their mind while they slept. If you think you know a really red hot psychic, then the next time you talk to them don’t ask them to simply tell you the meaning of one of your dreams. Ask them to first tell you the content of the dream without having told anyone your dream! That will bring them to a screaming halt. They can’t do it.

But Daniel did just that. He told the king the content of the dream, and then he told him the meaning. How could Daniel do that? Well, technically, Daniel didn’t. And he says so. Daniel says that only God (v. 28) knows the thoughts of a man, and that his God had revealed the content of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him along with the interpretation. Do you believe that? Well, whether you do or not at this point, you have to agree that Daniel’s statement is a pretty risky statement from a human point of view. But then Daniel proceeds to tell Nebuchadnezzar the content of his dream. And he is right! Nebuchadnezzar agrees that what has been described is his own dream!

So what is this dream which Daniel describes for Nebuchadnezzar? Well, the dream concerns a large statue of a man. The head of the statue is gold, its chest and arms are silver, its belly and thighs are bronze, its legs are iron, and its feet and toes partly of iron and partly of baked clay. A huge stone crushes the statue and its pieces are blown away. The stone, which was not cut by human hands, becomes a giant mountain that fills the whole earth. Now that’s a pretty symbolic dream. It’s one that could be interpreted anyway we want to, couldn’t it? But no, this dream is not subject to our speculation as to its meaning because Daniel goes on to tell the very meaning of the dream.

Daniel says that the dream tells the future of the Middle Eastern world from that time until the end of history! More accurately, the dream tells the future of Daniel’s home country, the Jewish nation. It really tells the future of Daniel’s nation for the rest of time. That’s pretty impressive, right? But before we commit to judgment, let’s see how Daniel did in his prophecy. Daniel says that the statue’s golden head represents King Nebuchadnezzar himself; that in the history of the Jewish nation, Nebuchadnezzar was to be the first conqueror of Judea. And of course that was true. At the very moment of the dream, Nebuchadnezzar was ruling over the Jewish nation. So that’s not too amazing. But the dream goes on. It says that the silver chest, shoulders and arms represent the nation that will replace Babylon as the ruler of the Middle East and the Jewish nation. If we examine our history textbooks we will find that Babylon was indeed conquered and replaced as the dominant power in the Middle East. History tells us that the Medio/Persian Empire succeeded Babylon. Notice that this empire is actual a combination of two peoples, the Medes and the Persians. This parallels the statue in that the statue had two shoulders and arms. The bronze torso and thighs represent the nation that was to follow the Medio/Persian Empire. Again, from history, we know that the Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered the Medio/Persian Empire. We remember that Alexander was a great warrior, and that he conquered and ruled a large empire prior to his death. If fact, his empire was the largest up to that time in the Middle East. Alexander conquered the eastern Mediterranean area, the Middle East, and marched as far east as the Indus River. Legend has it that when Alexander reached the Indus River he wept because there were no more worlds for him to conquer. But despite his greatness, Alexander’s empire eventually fell.

The Greek Empire was eventually replaced by the Roman Empire. This is what the iron legs and feet in the statue represent. Now if you have been following this reasoning closely, you might ask, "Hey, what about the fact that there are two legs and feet? Does this signify anything?" The answer is "Yes!" The Roman Empire was the greatest and largest up to its time. Rome ruled the Mediterranean area, portions of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Minor for hundreds of years. Eventually this large empire split into two factions, an Eastern Empire and the Western Empire. You may recall that in the Fourth century AD the Roman emperor Constantine succeeded in re-uniting the empire temporarily, and moved his capital from Rome to a city in Asia Minor, which eventually was named after him. You probably remember the name of this city from grade school history tests. It was the city of Constantinople, and today it is called Istanbul, the capital of Turkey. Now Constantine's efforts to make Constantinople the capital of his empire were only partially succeeded. Eventually the empire did divide irrevocably into an eastern and a western portion. This is what is represented by the two legs and two feet.

So far we have a list of four great empires that would rule the Jewish nation: Babylon, Medio/Persia, Greece, and Rome. And, all of this checks out with history, as we know it. But at this point we run into a minor difficulty. The dream goes on to speak of two more empires; the toes which are partly iron and partly clay, and the final empire represented by the huge rock which falls and crushes everything else. Now Daniel explains the huge rock and its kingdom as a kingdom which will be established by God that will cover the entire earth (not just the Middle East) and last forever. Obviously, this has not yet occurred. You don’t have to be a history professor to know that God has not established a kingdom which encompasses the whole earth. So this is one glitch. But there is another, and it involves the nation represented by the ten toes. You see, this nation has not ruled over the Jewish nation either. In fact the last nation which ruled over the Jewish nation was Rome! How does that come about? Well, in 68 AD the people of the Jewish nation revolted against the Roman government and tried to become independent. Rome did not take this well so they sent an army under a general named Titus to crush this rebellion, and he did. Titus laid siege to Jerusalem, captured it, and demolished the city and the Temple, which had been rebuilt. The last pocket of Jewish resistance was eliminated at a place called Masada. Titus crushed the rebellion and totally eliminated the Jewish nation. At that point in history, 70 AD, the Jewish nation ceased to be. From that time forward there has never been a Jewish state until we come to 1948 AD when miraculously the United Nations re-established the Jewish nation of Israel, by decree! So there is the dilemma. The prophecy speaks of two nations ruling after Rome, but the Jewish nation ceased to exist during the Roman Empire. Fortunately the problem is not as great as it would have been to scholars sixty years ago because sixty years ago there was no Israel! Today we can suggest that maybe the last two empires represented in the dream are empires which are yet to come, and yet to rule over Israel. These two empires pertain to the time of Jesus' return to earth.

The second prophecy we wish to look at is found in Chapter 8 of the Book of Daniel. This one involves a dream that Daniel himself had. In his dream he saw a ram with two horns which trampled the whole earth. Then a goat with one large horn came and trampled the ram into the ground. At the height of his power the goat’s large horn was broken off and replaced by four other horns. Out of one of these horns comes a little horn that extends itself toward the south and the east, including the Beautiful Land, i.e. the Jewish nation. This little horn which grows large interrupts the religious worship in the Jewish nation.

Again, although this is pretty figurative language, we are not free to interpret it anyway we please because Daniel himself tells us what it all stands for, and that interpretation is the core of Daniel’s prophecy. Daniel explicitly states that the two-horned ram represents the Medio/Persian Empire. The fact that one horn is larger than the other signifies that in the Medio/Persian coalition, Persia became the dominant partner. Daniel then tells us that the goat is Greece, and the large horn is the first king. This king conquers the Medio/Persian Empire. We already know from our previous discussions that this large horn is Alexander the Great. Daniel goes on to tells us that four kings will replace Alexander, and this is exactly what history tells us too. Alexander the Great died of natural causes in 323 B.C. at the very early age of 32, at the height of his power. Alexander’s son did not get to take over his father’s kingdom so Alexander’s four top generals split the kingdom among themselves. These four generals are, of course, the four subsequent horns. Alexander’s kingdom was divided as follows: Lysimachus received Thrace and Bithynia; Cassander received Macedonia and Greece; Seleucus received Syria and Babylon; and Ptolemy received Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia. Out of Alexander’s one, great, kingdom came these four kings and kingdoms, none of which was ever as great as Alexander or his kingdom. Now the four parts were not really equal. As we shall see two of the kingdoms became greater than the others became and continuously warred with each other to control the whole empire which had once been Alexander’s. The two dominant kingdoms that emerged were the southern kingdom, Egypt, and the Northern Kingdom, Syria.

Daniel’s prophecy goes on to tell us that a subsequent ruler of the northern kingdom, Syria, will extend its way to the south and east, and will also invade the Jewish nation. The prophecy also says that this king will not only fight against and conquer the Jewish nation, but he will stop the religious practices and worship in the city of Jerusalem. Finally, the prophecy says that this king will die, but not by human hands. What does all of this mean, and how does it compare to the historical record?

History tells us that one of the subsequent kings of Syria was called Antiochus Epiphanes IV, and he was a very ambitious and cruel person. Indeed, Antiochus did try to enlarge his kingdom by conquering the southern kingdom of Egypt. In fact, he attacked Egypt several times, but he was never successful. He finally ended up venting his frustration against the Jewish nation and the city of Jerusalem. Antiochus did invade Jerusalem and put a stop to the Jewish worship in Jerusalem in 168 B.C. In fact, Antiochus insisted that the Jews stop worshipping their God and worship him instead! Antiochus’ oppression of the Jewish nation lasted just over six years. Eventually the oppression was so cruel that the Jews revolted and ran the Syrians out of their land. The fact that the oppression lasted just over six years is interesting because Daniel prophesies that the oppression will last 2,300 evenings and mornings. 2,300 evenings and mornings are of course, 2,300 twenty-four hour days, and 2,300 days is just over six years. So once again Daniel’s prophecy is accurate even down to the detail of time! One final note on Antiochus. Antiochus did not die in battle, and he was not assassinated. He did not die by human hands. He died from a disease just as Daniel had foretold.

The third prophecy we wish to look at is found in Chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel. In this chapter Daniel received a vision as a result of his extended prayer. This prayer is recorded in the first half of the chapter. Beginning at verse 20 Daniel tells us that one afternoon while he was still in prayer a messenger from God came to speak to him. The messenger’s name was Gabriel. Daniel refers to him as a "man", but he also says that Gabriel arrived by flying! Since men don’t fly, we have to conclude that this was some kind of heavenly being. We usually translate the Hebrew word for "heavenly messenger" as "angel." So in a nutshell the angel, Gabriel, came to speak to Daniel again.

Gabriel told Daniel that seventy "sevens" were decreed for the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. Seventy "sevens" is, of course, 490, and the thing being spoken of is time, namely years. Gabriel was saying that he was going to tell Daniel about 490 year’s worth of Jewish history that was yet to happen at that time. Gabriel told Daniel that these years were necessary to finish transgressions, put an end to sin, atone for wickedness, bring in righteousness, complete vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. The term "most holy" refers to a savior and king which the Jewish people expected to come and save them from oppression just as their ancestor, Moses, had saved them from the Egyptians centuries before. This coming king would have to be anointed with oil in order to hold the office of king according to Jewish tradition. The Jews referred to this deliverer as the "messiah" because messiah literally means the "oily one" or the one anointed by oil.

Gabriel’s message lays out a very specific timetable for the appearance of this messiah. The clock would begin to run when the order was given to go and rebuild and restore Jerusalem. After this order was given there would first be seven "sevens" or 49 years which would be followed by sixty-two "sevens" or 434 years before the messiah would come. This is a total of 483 years between the giving of the order to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Jewish messiah, the Anointed One (verse 25). Gabriel said that the city would be rebuilt, but it would be rebuilt in difficult times. He further says that at the end of the sixty-two "sevens" not only would the messiah appear to his people, but he would immediately be "cutoff" and have nothing (verse 26). This means that he would be killed shortly after he appeared. Incredible as it seems, the long awaited messiah of the Jews would be killed shortly after his appearance. This verse goes on to say that shortly after the death of the messiah, the rebuilt Jerusalem and Temple would again be destroyed by whatever empire was ruling over Judea at that time. Gabriel said that the end of the city and Temple would be swift and would come like a flood. If this weren’t bad enough Gabriel went on to say that wars and desolation would continue until the "end", i.e. the end of time, as we know it. The rest of this chapter goes on to talk about this time of the end which is yet to come.

Before we can examine the predictions of Gabriel in detail we need to discuss a rather technical detail about Jewish prophecy. That detail is this: Throughout all Jewish prophecy in the Old Testament, or prophecy in the New Testament for that matter, whenever it speaks of a "year" it is speaking of exactly twelve months of exactly thirty days each. In other words, whenever a Jewish prophecy speaks of a year, it is speaking of a period of time which is exactly 360 days long! Given this fact, we can examine the veracity of Daniel’s prophecy. The elapsed time as given by Gabriel was 483 prophetic years. This translates to 483 x 360 = 173,880 days. So this is the number of days which would elapse until the appearance of the messiah. How many "real" years is this? Well, an actual year as we measure it, is approximately 365.25 days long. If we divide 173,880 by 365.25 we obtain just a bit over 476 actual years. So the messiah was predicted to appear a little over 476 actual years after the order was given to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. So, when was this order given?

Records show us that there were actually four orders given which concerned Jerusalem. The first was Cyrus’ decree in 538 B.C. to rebuild the Temple. This is recorded in the book of Ezra in the Bible (Ezra 1:1-4; 5:13). The second decree was that of Darius I in 520 B.C., which is spoken of in Ezra, 6:1 and Ezra 6:6-12. This second decree was a confirmation of the first. Both of them spoke of the rebuilding of the Temple, but neither of them spoke of the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem so neither of them can qualify as the decree referred to in Daniel’s prophecy. Artaxerxes Longimanus made a third decree in 457 B.C. (see Ezra 7:11-26). This decree related to financial concerns with regard to the daily sacrifices at the Temple so it is not the decree in question either.

Now the city wall was rebuilt under the leadership of a man named Nehemiah. Nehemiah records that the order to rebuild the city was given by the Persian king, Artaxerxes Longimanus, in 444 B.C.. This date can be found recorded in the writings of Nehemiah (see Nehemiah 2:1-5). So the clock for the messiah’s coming begins to run in the spring of 444 B.C.

If we were to sit down and count 476 years forward from 444 B.C., we would come to 33 AD. A faster method of calculation would be to take the years B.C. as negative numbers and the years AD as positive numbers. Then we would simply add 476 to -444 and obtain the result +32. Then we would have to add one because there was no year that was called "zero AD." Again, this would bring us up to +33 or 33 AD as the expected arrival time for the Jewish messiah. So the question then is did anything special happen in Jerusalem 33 AD? History tells us that no great Jewish leader arose in this time frame to lead a revolt or to liberate Judea from its domination by the Roman Empire, which was the World Empire at that time. In fact, history tells us that at this particular time there was a scarcity of people claiming to be king or messiah. There was one exception, however.

In the spring of 33 AD, a young carpenter from the town of Nazareth by the name of Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey. Now that doesn’t seem like a big deal to us, but two thousand years ago the customs were different. Back then people walked wherever they went, and that is precisely how they entered cities, by walking. However, it was also the custom that kings entered cities riding. If a king came to a city as a conqueror then he would enter the city riding on the back of a horse. If, however, the king came in peace to a city he would enter it riding on the back of a donkey. This is what Jesus did. He was proclaiming himself to be the King of the Jews, their messiah. This is not just conjecture on our part. The people at that time recognized what he was doing, and they welcomed him as a king. They put their coats and palm branches down on the roadway to decorate it. They called out to him with the word "hosanna." Hosanna is a term that one would address to a king. It means "Save us now!" So clearly these people recognized what Jesus was doing. They were completely cognizant that he was presenting himself as their king and messiah.

Not all of the Jews liked the idea of this Jesus as their messiah, however. In fact, the Jewish leadership was absolutely against it so they arranged to have him killed (cut off) just a few days later. This clearly fulfills the first part of Daniel’s prophecy. What about the rest? Thirty-six years later, in 68 AD, the Jews grew impatient with Roman rule, and they revolted. The revolt lasted about two years. In 70 AD the revolt was crushed by the Roman general, Titus, and his legions. The result was the destruction of Jerusalem, the total annihilation of the Temple, and the end of the Jewish nation for almost 2000 years. This completes the last part of Daniel’s prophecy. The enemy came in like a flood, and the destruction was complete. Since that time the land of Jerusalem and its vicinity has never known peace. Gabriel gave Daniel a very accurate forecast of what was to come!

What can we conclude? Well, at this point I think we can make several accurate observations or conclusions. First, the prophecies of Daniel were all perfectly accurate not only in detail, but also in timing. Some of the prophecies were sort of general and some were very specific as to detail, but whether general or specific, they all turned out to be 100% accurate. Further, the time schedule called for turned out to be accurate to the year, maybe even to the day!

Second, we can conclude that since Jesus fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy concerning the coming Jewish messiah (and many more, by the way), that Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews, the expected Savior and Messiah!

Third, Jesus spoke of the Bible Scriptures as being the Word of God, and since we have shown that Jesus was the Messiah we can then place significant trust in his verdict.

The Bible is true because it is the Word of God. We can tell that it is the Word of God because it bears "God's Signature."

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